Is it practical to travel in Argentina with limited knowledge of Spanish?
I am planning to travel for 3 weeks around Argentina, I plan to arrive and depart from Buenos Aires. I am not booking all my accommodation/travel ahead of time, as some of the distances are so vast, I don't know exactly where I will be ahead of time.
How practical is this considering I don't speak Spanish?
My assumption is, that learning the usual basic words, hand gestures, persistence and a bit of research ahead of time would suffice, is this unrealistic?
Best Answer
Except for the most upscale touristy places, you cannot rely on having someone in reach who speaks English; it will often be the case, but not always.
But it sounds like you're willing to put in some effort (in addition to what you mentioned, I would of course also take a dictionary and/or phrase book along), and as long as you're polite and patient, you should be fine. People in South America generally (in my experience) are used to things not always working smoothly, and most are flexible and helpful towards tourists.
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Do I need to know Spanish to travel in Argentina?
Though Buenos Aires is a big city with a higher chance of people understanding basic English, it would still be advisable to know some basic Spanish. Things like banking and renting an apartment will be difficult to manage with no knowledge of Spanish.Can you get by with English in Argentina?
Can tourists expect to get by with just English alone, or will some Spanish be needed? English is not very widely spoken in Argentina, with around 15% estimated to speak it at a basic level, and 6% estimated to be fluent in English. The official language is Spanish, followed by Italian with around 1.5 million speakers.Is Argentina Spanish hard to understand?
The only difficulty for learners who want to explore Argentine culture is that Spanish in Argentina is quite different from other dialects. If you're not used to it can be difficult to understand. I remember when I first arrived in Buenos Aires, I was totally lost!Does everyone speak Spanish in Argentina?
Argentina's official language is Spanish. It's important to note that Argentinians speak a unique form of Spanish called Argentinian Spanish which can sound more like Italian than Spanish. Almost the entire population of Argentina speaks Spanish with 41.7 million speakers out of a population of 43.8 million.How To Speak Like An Argentinian | (The Argentinian Accent)
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Answer 2
From my own experience I have found English to some degree is widely spoken, and when it isn't its very easy to get by on limited Spanish.
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